Gadgets and Gizmos

As eager as Ali was to start looking at campers, Jon (arguably the smarter one when it comes to impulse buying) kindly pointed out that the perfect camper is useless unless we can haul it.  Fair point.

We currently have two Toyota Sienna vans, a 2011 and a 2012.  Yep, we have TWO minivans cause we're the coolest people alive.  Farewell youth, hello adulting.  TBH though, we love our vans and all the stuff they can carry, so we try not to mourn for our badass 20-something selves too long. 

Hey big red, how YOU doin?

But a Toyota Sienna is not meant to haul a camper, and, much to Jon's chagrin, we're not budgeting to buy a truck.  As such, some changes had to be made.

Toyota Siennas don't normally come with any towing capabilities.  BUT, the good people of Toyota (no sponsorship implied) DO leave some room for you to install a towbar.  So, two years ago, Jon decided we really needed to drag around a small trailer for wood, a John-boat, a canoe, a go-kart, and many of our other large purchases we pick up and drag around.  Thus, we have a Toyota that can haul light loads around 1000 pounds.  But rumor has it those campers weigh a bit more, so we had to figure out how to max out the hauling capacity of our pimped out Sienna even more.  

The first thing we need to do is install an auxiliary transmission cooler in the engine to limit the wear and tear on the transmission when it hauls heavy loads.  So, we got the Derale Performance (note, Ali thinks "Derale" is a horrible name for a car part) Fluid Cooler to install in the engine.

Now part of the reason you can haul more weight with a camper is because you can use the camper's brakes (as opposed to our little trailer which has NO brakes - no help at all).  To do so, we next have to install a new 7 way socket which will connect to the camper's wiring so we can use camper's brake and turning lights as well as the brakes themselves.  

The 7-way socket

But even though the 7 way socket linked everything together, that doesn't mean pushing on the brakes of the Sienna will activate the brakes of the camper.  That would be too easy.  So, we bought a Proportional Brake Controller (PBC), which basically makes the brakes of the camper sense when the Sienna is slowing down, and activates the camper's brakes accordingly to complement the slowdown.  This is the Reese Towpower Brake-Evn (oy, Ali's spelling sense is tingling) Compact Brake Control, which should do the trick.

And of course, all the mounting brackets, wires, fuses, etc, that Jon swears are necessary to put it all together.  Hmmm.....

Sounds easy peasy, right?  Well, researching took a bit, ordering took a bit longer, but with any luck, installation will be nice and smooth.  Stay tuned to see how it goes!  Have you upgraded your vehicle to make it have more power more power more power?  What did you use?  Are we on the right track?

The Idea...and the Plan.

For years, we've fantasized about what we see on television and the internet.  Flipping houses!  Being creative! Traveling the world! Tiny homes! Minimalism!

But, like so many, we're sure, actually doing these things is a different story.  How can you take time to flip houses when you already have full-time jobs?  How can you be creative when you're so tired a the end of the day?  How do you travel the world with three kids and a dog all the stuff that goes with them.  Tiny homes?  Minimalism?  Do you skip over the three kids part?

Eager to get our creative juices flowing, we one day starting talking about RVs and campers.  We'd taken an RV rental trip and loved the convenience of having a house on wheels, but, let's face it, those rental RVs are like a hotel room.  They might LOOK like a home, but they aren't really.  So...what if we found a camper in need of love and fixed it up.  But what if we REALLY fixed it up and made it a space that wasn't just functional or pretty, but really functional...and REALLY pretty?

That creative and nomadic drive (and, let's be honest, a decent tax return) sealed the deal for us and so it begins!

But we are no one if not planners, so here's our thoughts going in:

1. We buy a used camper that someone is offloading.  Preferably one in great shape that someone simply realized was a horrible idea (like a boat or an elliptical) and wants to offload.
2. We spend the smallest amount of money we can making the camper more functional and more liveable.
3. We list the camper for sale and use the profits to do it all over again because we've discovered we love it and we're good at it and we're never going back to our day jobs ever ever ever!

Ok, so that last part of #3 is a bit of a stretch (we're actually not allowed to quit our jobs at the moment) but, as I mentioned before, we're big dreamers.  Alternatively, if the goal of selling this and doing it again doesn't work, either because we can't sell it, or we rue the day we ever had this idea, our traveling band of crazies would love an RV to use on the weekends to visit new places.  And, since we risk being stuck with an RV permanently, we have extra motivation to make it really great.

We hope you come with us on our successes (and likely failures) as we see if camper flipping is a fun project for us.  And, in a few months, if you're in the market for a camper....